Adrenaline Rush with Sarah. Downpour race morning following a good storm the past couple days ensured the singletrack stayed closed for the race. Liz and Michelle had contingencies in place though, and there were rain CPs to replace some original bike points. The MTBO was on mostly fire roads and was unaffected. Received 2 beautiful 1:16k maps prerace. There were 4 windows up for grabs at any time on the course although they were designed for one to be gotten in each of the 4 main legs. You had to get all 3 CPs in the window to receive credit, ranging from 4-6 points per window.

Prologue was a .5mi road loop to get passports. Ran in bike shoes and were first team out on bike. Fire roads and trails to the MTBO, snagging the window on the way there. We got all CPs for the window from the same bike drop, but i think it would have been faster to drop in 2 places. The MTBO was pretty straightforward, a couple of route choices early on. CPs had to be gotten in order. ~12mi course took us 1:15, good enough for 3rd place for teams. Headed to the main TA in the SE corner of the map to drop our bikes til the end of the race.

On foot, we hit another window and started seeing a lot of Halfway There. We would trade places with them all day. Lots of cool CP locations...ruins, a land bridge, cemeteries in the middle of nowhere. In our Kevlar Wenonah, we headed upstream to get CP10 and another window. With the rains, the current was rough in a long boat on a narrow waterway. We ended up steering in both the front and rear, using draw strokes in the bow to get tighter turns. We had been warned of nasty woods for this window but didn't encounter anything crazy. Zoomed downstream and out into the main lake for 2 more flags. At one point, and eagle flew low over the water in front of us, then landed on the shoreline. When we got close, he flew back across and to a roost. Closest I've ever been to one. Amazing creatures!

Next up is a hefty trek for a 12hr. Lots of trails and gravel roads, so we ran the majority. Early on had a lengthy out and back due to a large section being out of bounds. Hit CP15 dead on, but it was misplaced, and there were a few teams there searching for it, including Halfway. The map showed 2 ditches that Y'ed together. Wasn't there. While the other teams were having a powwow, we went to the next reentrant to the west and found it. Had a friendly discussion with Paul at the TA, who told me it couldn't be in the wrong place because he set it. GPS doesn't lie! Only cost us 10-15min, but lots of teams didn't find it. Went for a refreshing swim towards the end to get the last 3 points.

Back at the bikes, we grabbed some pizza and got out lights. The bike CPs were all out and backs because they were rain points. Halfway was still close, so we kept the pressure on, dreaming about Cokes and hot food for the last hour. Just a gorgeous night to be outside.

Total mileage. Bike 32, Paddle 6, Foot 20. Finished 2nd OA, a little under an hour behind Dave and Rory. 3 teams cleared the course. This was my first Adventure Addicts race, and I'm so happy Liz and Michelle decided to get back in to directing!

Recon mission with Maya and Rico. Dee, Leslie, and John brought their 2 dogs to make a 4 man/4 dog ride. Mine did so good and seemed to have a great time on their first ride. Planned to go longer but swung by camp, and D wasn't having a good morning, so I called it a day. Nice to have a chill weekend with great peeps and creatures for once.